The Rage of the Dragon Warrior
by SwedishEmperorThe1
Summary: Amongst the ruins which used to be his childhood village, the Dragon Warrior finally learns about his forgotten past, but the revelation comes with a heavy price. The pain and the lose causes a darker side to reveal itself in him, and he declears vengeance upon the peacock warlord who took his family away from him, leading to events that will consume whole of China in war.


He felt tiny drops of water relentlessly falling down on his aching head, and he opened his eyes up, just when one last drop fell on his forehead, awaking from his unconsciousness. Feeling rather dizzy, he stared up at the near-rainy, thundering, dark clouded sky above him, and then he looked down to see an open grassfield surrounded by a distent forest. He also saw a wooden floor beneath him, belonging to the seemingly ruined house he was lying inside.

He wondered where he was, or what this place was. He wondered why he was lying here, with half of his body covered in bandages and acupuncture needles, right in the middle of the wildness. Last he remembered, he was inside that factory, facing the new weapon and its spit of fire and metal before everything went black. He curiously turned his head to the left to see a figure in front of a cauldron above a small fire, its back facing him. He recognized the figure, and his body froze in silent anxiety, not even daring to breathe. He recognized its colourful robes, its old, hunching stand, and particularly its curved, thick horn that pointed out of the figure's right side.

The figure was no other than the old goat advisor to that pale peacock.

Po Ping, the Panda Dragon Warrior, stared anxiously at the goat's back before he tried to silently crawl away. He suddenly stopped when it looked like she heard something, not daring to move another inch. Thinking that she'd turn around anytime soon, he pretended that he was still unconscious, letting his body drop without giving out any sound, opening his mouth and letting his tongue out.

He laid like that for barely two seconds before he turned his head around to see if the old goat still had her attention to the cauldron, only to see the said goat's frowning face right in front of his. Panicking, he cried out and impulsively jumped up, trying to escape, but the aching pain stopped him before he could even get up from the floor. Po moaned in pain before he saw the goat handing out a bowl of soup to him.

Suspicious of the old goat's intention, Po started:

"Yeah. Like you can make me drink th...", but he was interrupted by the goat when she suddenly put another needle at his forehead, causing his mouth to open up by itself. She then forced the soup down in Po's mouth and took away the needle, causing his mouth to close and swallow the soup down to his stomach. The soup didn't taste that good, so Po made a moan of disgust while the old goat returned to the fireplace.

"If I wanted you dead..." the goat started, ignoring Po's moan. "...I would've left you in that river," she finished with a matter-of-factly tone.

"Why save me?" Po asked as he pulled out one of the needles from his head, wondering why she'd save an enemy of hers from certain death.

"So you can fulfill your destiny," the goat answered him.

"What are you taking about?" Po asked as he pulled out another needle from his head. "Where am I?" he then asked as he sat himself up and looked out at the grassfield and the ruins habituating on it. "What is this place?"

"I'm surprised you remember so little, but you were so little when it happened," the goat answered him, her tone suddenly remorseful, as Po listened intensely, while he pulled the needles out of his body. He then suddenly clutched his head as he heard screams inside it, causing him to cringe and cry out in terror. Despite that the screams only appeared in his head for barely a moment, they were enough to shock Po so that he dropped himself to the floor and crawled to the end of it, as if he tried to get away from something that was haunting him.

"Perhaps you do remember," the goat said as she saw the panda's panicked reaction.

"No what, it's just a stupid nightmare," Po quietly said, as if more to himself than to the goat.

"Nightmare...or memory?" the goat asked.

Po paid attention to what she just said, as if he was considering her words. He looked down at the poodle beneath the ruin, and tried to remember the forgotten past he'd repressed from his consciousness. Suddenly, his reflection on the poodle was replaced by that of a smiling and laughing panda cub. The cub smiled his mouth open and laughed happily, as if he was happy to see Po. The surprised Po turned his eyes away from the poodle and looked at the abandoned village again, and from his memories he no longer saw the ruins, the dark clouds and the lifelessness, but a prosperous and alive village beneath a sunny and beautiful sky. He saw young children of his kind running across the fields with kites, laughing in joy, and he saw farmers doing their chores. He also saw a couple in front of him, looking at him with love in their eyes. The male was a big and bulky man, his body formed by a lifetime of manual labour on the fields, and he wore only brown pants that were slighty worn down and patched-up, and a stripped belt around his waist that was yellow and brown in colours. On his right shoulder he held a basket full with radishes, and in his left hand he held a long farming tool. The female was also rather bulky, which was only normal for their kind, and she wore a simple light brown dress and a striped belt around her waist that resembled like that of her mate.

The female waved to him and then pointed up to the sky. He looked up and saw the kites hovering gracefully in the sunny sky, giving it the beauty worth a poem. Like a flock of beautiful birds, the kites caused him much awe and made him feel warmth, as if a feeling of nostalgia from a more innocent and wonderful time appeared inside him. He could almost feel himself dancing with the kites in the wind, as those wonderful feelings made him feel a spiritual weightlessness that could help him reach toward the very stars of the night sky themselves and witness their glory first hand. To think that something so simple like a child's toy made of sticks and fabrics could awake a such strong emotional side in him, when he'd seen far more complex things in his life that hadn't awaken any of the emotions he felt now by witnessing the glorious dance of the kites, was amazing.

He turned his eyes away from the kites and he suddenly saw himself as a cub, happily laughing in innocent, childish joy, carrying a panda doll in his right paw and crawling clumsily toward the couple, who clearly were his parents, the very same ones he'd forgotten about so long time ago. He then returned back to reality as he walked out of the ruined house and out to the grassfield, staring at the ruined village with a mourning kind of curiosity. Meanwhile, his unlikely savior was telling him about the past of the village.

"This was a striving village. Young Shen was in line to rule Gongmen City, but he wanted more. I foretold that someone would stand in his way. A panda," she said as Po slighty turned his head to her in surprise. She continued. "But I never could've foretold what came next," she finished as regret painted her words. Suddenly, Po cringed as he heard a baby's cry inside his head, and then he was back at the flashback, but it was much different now. Instead of a prosperous and striving village under a beautiful sky, he now saw a burning village under siege by an army of wolves. He saw the peacock warlord giving out his soulpiercing cry, wielding his zigzagged spear high, as his army ran toward the village like a horde of crazed beasts. He saw himself cowering and crying in fear, hugging his doll in a tighter hold, as he was surrounded by flames. Suddenly, he saw the peacock warlord in front of him, with two wolves at his side, and the peacock looked back at him, his bloodred eyes glaring at him with bloodthirsty ruthlessness, and no compassion or empathy behind them. The peacock's tail feathers revealed themselves to their fullest size as he pointed toward Po and shouted out...

"Get them all!"

And then the pair of wolves ran toward him with their jaws wide open, with their razor-sharp teeth shining like knifes, and their soulless eyes glittering with endless hunger for death and slaughter, making the pair look like demons comming out of the fiery pit of Hell itself, out to consume the very life as they knew it and drag it to the eternal damnation. The panda cub stared with wide eyes in sheer terror as the pair was soon about to feast on him, with no way to escape, when suddenly, his tall and fearless father stood protectively in front of him and slammed his farming tool right at the wolves, causing them to fly back to their shocked master, who tried to avoid them as they forcefully hit the ground.

"Take our son and run away! Go!" his father ordered to his mother, who picked up the cub and then ran away from the burning village along with other survivors. His father continued to stand his ground, ready to give his family and the others time to escape from the crazed maniac and his thugs. But as his mother ran, the cub accidentally dropped his doll, and he could only stare helplessly as it rolled toward one of the burning houses and was then buried by falling woods.

Back at the reality, Po searched through some fallen burnt wood, and he found his old doll, blackened and dirty but still whole. He stared at it for a moment before he cringed again as he saw the dreaded, bloodred sun that was the peacock's symbol of choice and then his mother seemingely abandoning him to his fate for one second before he was back at the reality again. After that horrific flashback, Po was breathing heavily in shock as the revealation was overwhelming.

"Stop fighting. Let it flow," the old goat encouraged him while he was trying to recover from the shock. Po heard her encouragement, and he stopped his intensive breathing in order to reflect. With a calm but sad look, he looked up to the dark, rainy sky in an attempt to calm his raging emotions down, and he looked at it for a short moment before he turned his eyes at his doll, the only remaining thing from his childhood. He then gently put it down at the ground before he looked up again. In the calm silence he remembered the wise words his old kung-fu master gave him before he went out to his journey, and through them he got back the determination that helped him to endure the grueling training. A determined look replaced the sad one as he knew that this was the moment he'd find his inner peace, and he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and concentrated. Through his other senses and a deep look into his spiritual mind, he could feel the world's lifeforce gracefully dance around him in waves, and he started to move his body with it, his eyes still closed. After a moment, he felt the lifeforce sending one of its raindrops to him, and he used his spiritual connection to catch the raindrop with his paw.

As he caught it, more of his forgotten memories emerged, and he saw his mother running into a snowy forest with the infant him still in her arms. He saw that dreaded symbol infesting itself on the trees and spreading its bloodred marks across the forest like a parasitic plauge, relentlessy pursuing them like a tireless force. Behind his mother he saw a wolf chasing them, its mouth wide-open and all its sharp teeth hungry for flesh, and its eyes soulless and devoid of all mercy.

He was rolling the raindrop around his hands, moving it around like the waves of the lifeforce, his eyes still closed. And he continued to see his mother desperately running away from the savage wolf. At one point, she nearly tripped over by the snow. The wolf saw it as an opportunity, and jumped toward her and tried to bite her, but she dodged him before he could get her, and the wolf landed unceremoniously on the snow. His mother continued to run into the forest, as the wolf's reinforcement arrived and began to chase her as well.

She managed to run fast enough to distant herself from her pursuers, and soon she came across a cart filled with boxes of radishes. Seeing the opportunity, his mother went to the cart and laid the infant him in one of the boxes. As she did it, the environment lost its snowy white and dreaded red as a goldenness appeared and surrounded the pandas. When the infant was put down, he gave a small, childish moan, as if he was wondering what his mother planned to do now.

Back in reality, Po's eyes finally opened as he stared sadly at nothing, knowing that this was the moment when he was abandoned. He could still see his mother in front of him. She backed slowly away from the infant, her face filled with sadness and worry. For the infant, it looked like she was abandoning him so he started to fearfully cry for her, as a way to tell her not to leave him. However, she neared to him as she hushed kindly to him and took his paws, trying to comfort him. It helped, as the infant's worry gave away to his love for his mother, knowing that she'd never abandon him. She then gave him a kiss on his forehead and fondled his cheeks. When she did it, the happy infant said his first word ever in his life, which was a simple "Ma". It was a short word, but it was enough to break his mother's heart, as she knew what she'd to do next. She held her son's tiny arms as long as she could, knowing that this was the last time she'd ever be with him. Through all this, a golden area was shining around her, bringing light and warmth to this otherwise dark and cold place. For the infant, it made his mother look like an angel, a creature of love and beauty.

But his mother couldn't spend anymore time with her son. She finally backed away and ran up the snowy hill with tears steaming down her eyes. The infant started to cry again, but she forced herself to ignore him, knowing that if she went back to him now, he'd die. She saw their pursuers and made herself visibly to them by jumping and waving her arms, getting their attention away from her son. The crying cub then saw his mother turning around and running away, disappearing behind the hill, with, to his horror, the wolves and their peacock master chasing after her like a pack of hungry dogs. He cried even harder, since it was the only thing he could do, as he was now alone and defenseless in this dark, cold forest. He was crying for his mother, begging for her to return to him, hoping in vain that she'd listen.

But she didn't come back. Instead, he heard something that would make his blood freeze in terror. Something that would stab his soul like the sharpest sword. Something that would change the very future of the cub, and through him the very future of China itself.

He heard his mother's bloodcurling scream.

The memory went away, and Po was back in reality, shocked out of his wits. For a moment, he though that he'd accept his horrific past and find inner peace like Master Shifu did, but now after what he'd witnessed in the flashback, any link to inner peace was shattered like the most fragile glass, broken and ruined for all time.

The raindrop missed the newgrown plant Po had aimed at. It ran down between his fingers and hit the ground, splattering its liquid form across it before it disappeared in it, buried and forever lost.

The Soothsayer, who'd stood back and watched when the panda's memories were releashed from their burial, walked toward the young panda as he sat on the ground, overwhelmed by the horrible memories. She could cleary see that he was in deep emotional pain, and her heart was bleeding deeply for the poor boy. He didn't deserve to suffer the horrors he'd been through in such young age and then relive them decades later. She felt great remorse for putting him through this, but it'd to be done if he'd to fullfill his destiny and stop Lord Shen's madness from causing more suffering. Only by remembering the pain Shen had caused him could he truely understand why Shen must be stopped.

When she was near the poor boy, the Soothsayer knew that he needed comforting support and she was about to give him some comforting words of wisedom when suddenly, the panda stood up, his back still facing her. When he stood up, something in the Soothsayer told her that something was wrong with the panda, and not because of his grief but of something else. Something malicious.

Her instincts were confirmed when his fingers clenched into hard fists, his breathing became deep and growling, like that of an enraged bull, and his shaking muscles tensed to their fullest size, making him look as twice as big than he already was. She could feel a storm of negativity raging inside the boy, just wating to burst out at the world with all its might, and she became frightnened of what the panda would do next. Nervously, she asked:

"What will you do now?"

The panda turned around to face her, and when they locked eyes, she was absolutely terrified by his downright murderous look. His face was plastered with a hateful sneer that showed off all those sharp teeth that looked like they were ready to rip flesh right out of the bones, and the face itself had that ugly and twisted grimace that reflected nothing but hateful anger. But what was the worst were his eyes. They'd that piercing look that seemed to belong to a starving falcon. They'd that desire for vengeful, flesh-tearing carnage, and seeing that in the boy's eyes caused her throat to choke. They were burning with volcanic fury, boiling and bubbling in all-consuming hatred, causing the panda to look like a crazed animal that was desperate to kill. Nothing but madness reflected from those eyes.

It reminded the Soothsayer of Lord Shen's eyes. That same look in them...that same insane bloodthirst...any hope she'd for the panda was crushed like an egg, and now she was terrified of that her well-intentioned attempt to help him might have created a beast of vengeance.

"It's simple. I'll make that peacock regret that day he murdered my family. That's what I'll do next."

That cold, sinister tone sent chills through the Soothsayer's back, and she could barely breathe, so terrified she was. She knew it'd be painful for the panda to relive his past, but she hadn't imagined that his pain truely ran so deep in his heart, and her misguided attempt to help him had only awaken a vengeful beast from its deep slumber. She could only dread what he'd do to Shen once he get his paws on him, and there was no way she could reason with the panda now, as the desire for revenge had already twisted its claws too deeply in him. But she tried to come up with something that could discourage him from seeking revenge, but nothing came. She just couldn't speak with the terror on her back. It was like if it'd frozen her voice.

"I thank you because you saved my life, but I'll warn you: don't get in my way. I'll kill that peacock and make him pay for what he'd done, and I'll count anyone who'll try to stop me as my enemies, and I won't show them any mercy as well. After what they'd done, they don't deserve any."

And then the panda walked pass her and into the forest toward Gongmen City, leaving her alone at the ruined village. After her fear calmed down, she looked down at the doll, which was innocently sitting on the grass. She picked it up, looked at it for the short moment and then held it close to her chest. She closed her eyes and gave a small prayer to the heavens that they'd show mercy to Shen...because the panda would not.

* * *

AN: So here's my first chapter to my _Kung Fu_ _Panda _fanfiction, and as you could read at the last part, this's going to be one of those revenge fics. I kind of got this idea after I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and wondered what would happen if Po became vengeful after the big revelation? I bet things would've ended more violently than how the movie did. So now I'm trying to write this down, along with my other ongoing fanfic, _The Chronicles of the Digimon War_. If you've time, than please read my Digimon fanfic and my Darkwing Duck fanfic, _The True Face of Insanity_. The first one is about a massive war between humans and digimon, with the Digidestined caught in the middle, and the second one is about the rise of Darkwarrior Duck through the pov of Negaduck. I bet you're going to love them.

Please review, follow and/or favorite this fic. It'd make me really happy :)


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